Man, my brother is in so much trouble when my mom gets home. I'm glad that I'm the best of her children, the one who never gets in trouble and is always good and smart and stuff like that and I hang out with a good crowd and don't do anything illegal and yeah. So, kinda scared of her wrath, cause sometimes she gets so mad that she misdirects some of that anger, so I'm cutting out of here before that happens. Plus, I cleaned the house all nice so she won't have an excuse to eat me. Alright, now that I've done all that work, I'm ready for some writing! Oh, and thanks for the compliment, Kaze-chan. It's kind of funny, my ability to write sap. See, it stems from my extreme bitterness toward men. They never do anything right unless I make them. So I write them like they should be. And that makes them perfect and cute and all that. None of that stuff happens in real life. And it just makes me more bitter, knowing that I can write them, but they can't act that way and never will. Bastard men...
*****
Fate's Reversal
Part 17
*****
"So." Natsu glanced at the sleeping pair across the fire while addressing Nigai. "What's the deal with those two?"
"I guess they're together." Nigai shrugged, poking a stick into the fire with mild fascination. "I gave him my permission. Before that, he wouldn't come near her. He understands what it's like for us."
"Being a twin? Yeah, it's fun." Natsu grinned slightly. "But sometimes I want to smack Fuyu. He's overprotective of me. I can handle myself and he knows it, but he keeps trying to be the one in charge, the stronger one, whatever." Natsu stuck her tongue out, making a face. "I hate being protected like that, but he's my brother, and I love him."
"I guess it's like that with Amai and me. I don't really know about Tsuyo and Sekatsu since they're both guys, but I kinda get the feeling that Tsuyo's the one in charge there." Nigai told her.
"Yeah, but Sekatsu I think just lets him take that role because he doesn't want a power struggle or anything. He's kinda meek, you know? But he takes good care of your sister. I can see why you trust him with her."
"When we were back there...Naraku hurt her." Nigai's blue eyes were dark, communicating more than his words. "And I couldn't stop him. Neither of us could. I know I'm stronger than Sekatsu, since I'm youkai and he's just a human, but that's not what she needs right now. She needs someone who'll watch out for her and just...you see how he is with her. Really gentle."
"I thought something had happened to her, but I didn't know. Hey, she could've just been really shy for all I knew." Natsu shrugged, blinking golden eyes at Nigai. "I can see why you hate him so much."
"What about you? Did you ever...deal with Naraku?" Nigai asked. "You seem to really hate him too."
"Well, daddy hates him, so he must be really bad." Natsu explained, grinning slightly at her reasoning. "Plus, from what I've heard from you guys, he's a real bastard."
"Tell me about it." Nigai growled slightly. "I can't wait to rip that guy in half with my claws..."
"You know, Nigai," Natsu spoke up after a long silence. "You aren't that much younger than me."
"I know." Natsu puffed his chest out at the halfway compliment. "I'm a man, you know. Even though I kinda missed the ceremony..."
"Ceremony?" Natsu asked, turning to face him. "What do you mean?"
"We have a ceremony when we're old enough." Nigai explained, obviously happy to be talking about this subject. "To make sure everyone knows we're men."
"Why'd you miss it?" Natsu wanted to know. "I bet it was fun."
"Yeah, but Amai and I kinda got captured." Nigai admitted, deflating a bit. "Gods...I should've listened to her. She told me it was stupid, going off by ourselves, but I was just so sure we'd be okay."
"It's not your fault, you know." Natsu told him. "It's that damn Naraku's fault! And we'll show him."
"Yeah, we'll take out his liver and feed it to him." Nigai fell back into their game of describing Naraku's death. They went on like that for most of the night, not bothering to wake Sekatsu and Amai for their watch since the two looked so peaceful. Besides, Nigai and Natsu weren't big on being watched over.
----------
"What's so funny?" Yuki tilted his head as the girl on his back giggled slightly while they ran through the forest at high speed.
"I don't think Tsuyo likes this arrangement very much." she spoke in his ear as she nodded ahead toward Fuyu, who was carrying Tsuyo on his back so that they could travel faster with the two youkai running the two humans around. "I bet he wishes that he went with that Natsu girl instead."
"He'll live." Yuki chuckled as well at the extremely dissatisfied look on the other boy's face. "Do you have any idea how close we are?"
"Well...I'm not sure. Some of this looks kinda familiar, but I don't know the woods nearly as well as Tsuyo does. I'm probably just imagining I've been near here before. Who knows, though? We seem to be making pretty good time." she told her mate.
"Yeah, especially since the slave driver wouldn't let us stop for the night." Yuki snorted. "I can't believe he pulled rank on me."
"Natsu'd probably tell him to shove his rank in his ear." Haruka giggled. "She's so funny. I'm glad we're cousins, even if ultra serious Fuyu comes with the deal."
"I still can't believe it." Yuki sounded a bit frightened. "I wonder...maybe your father doesn't know about that law?"
"Well...I hate to admit it, but he might wanna hurt you anyway." Haruka admitted. "He is kinda protective of me. It was always a good thing with Tsuyo and Sekatsu, but now I kind of wish he'd lighten up. Who knows? Maybe he'll really really like you!"
"Maybe. I don't know though. Dog youkai and wolf youkai...it's not a rivalry, really, but we usually just don't get along." Yuki told her.
"I like you well enough." Haruka nibbled at his pointed ear, seeing as she couldn't crane her neck to reach his face. Yuki slowed down, turning to kiss her. "You stopped." she pointed out the obvious.
"You distracted me." he told her, his hands wandering up her legs slightly. "I wish we could take a break..."
"Yeah, it's so stupid, I get to be right here with you but we can't even really...you know." Haruka blushed, nuzzling the back of his neck. He let her down to the ground and turned around for another kiss, this one longer and deeper. "Yuki, I love you." she told him, her golden eyes sparkling happily as he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing small circles on her back.
"I don't remember calling for us to stop." Fuyu's voice interrupted the couple. He looked as though he planned to burn holes through them with his stormy blue glare. "Is there a problem?"
"Yeah, those two can't keep their hands off each other!" Tsuyo volunteered. "Come on, you guys. We'll hit the village by midday if you stop goofing around."
"Sorry." Harkuka blushed furiously, climbing back on Yuki's back.
"Yeah...um, we're ready now." he told the other two boys. Fuyu nodded and headed off with Yuki behind them.
"You know, I changed my mind." Haruka's voice was mischievous, and Yuki couldn't help but grin when he heard it.
"About what?" he asked, shifting her weight so that it was more comfortable as they went on.
"Those two." she explained. "I think they'd make a cute couple."
----------
"Kouga, there's some people here to see you." Mikan sounded quite pleased with this idea, but Kouga waved her away.
"Tell them to leave, then." he didn't even look up from where he lay next to his visibly pregnant mate. "I'm busy."
"You aren't busy." Mikan corrected him. "Furthermore, it is very necessary that you see these people."
"Don't tell me what to do." he shot back, but his voice lacked the conviction to sound angry.
"I'll send them in, then." she ignored his mumbled curses and left the den. Moments later, Kouga looked up as he heard a sharp gasp, and felt the same sound leave his own mouth at what he saw.
"A...Amai? Nigai? Is that really you?" Kouga actually stood, moving shakily over to where his two concerned children were standing with two other people Kouga didn't know by name or appearance. "You two...how can this be?"
"It's a long story, father." Nigai was holding Amai's hand, and the girl looked extremely frightened. "We came here looking for Naraku because--"
"Naraku! I knew that bastard must have something to do with this! It was his stink...but I couldn't find the right trail, and then...your mother..." Kouga looked back at the unconscious woman, his red-rimmed eyes telling how little sleep he was getting as of late.
"Kouga sir, we already know about all that." one of the other children spoke up, a young woman with golden eyes and dark hair. She seemed to be youkai, but Kouga wasn't sure. "We just needed to tell the tribe to watch out for Naraku. He might be coming here, so we came to tell you."
"Who are you?" Kouga asked the girl. "And you, I've never seen you two before." Kouga addressed the dark haired boy standing next to his daughter.
"Oh, my name is Natsu!" the girl exclaimed. "Um...that's right...I'm the first daughter of Sesshoumaru, Lord of all the Western Lands. Did that sound right?" she asked Nigai, who nodded and gave her a small grin.
"Lord Sesshoumaru's daughter, huh?" Kouga was surprised. "And you?" he pointed to the boy.
"I'm Sekatsu. I'm just a plain human." the boy offered. "See, Naraku had us all captured cause of who our parents are."
"Except me! Fuyu and I saved them!" Natsu interjected. "Fuyu's my brother, see?"
"Uh, yeah." Sekatsu couldn't help but smile at the girl's behavior. "Anyway, his servant Kanna stole two souls, the soul of your mate and the soul of my friend's father."
"Whose soul?" Kouga cut in, confused but interested in anything that had to do with his mate.
"His name is Inuyasha." Nigai told his father. "And Naraku kidnapped his daughter Haruka. She's off with Yuki and Fuyu right now."
"And Sekatsu's brother too." Natsu added helpfully.
"Inuyasha?" Kouga's eyes went wide. "Are you sure?"
"Yep, really sure." Natsu verified.
"That's right...he did have a daughter named Haruka." Kouga was half mumbling to himself. "Then...you couldn't be Sango and Miroku's son? The one with the twin brother?"
"Have I met you?" Sekatsu was surprised that Kouga seemed to know all these people.
"When you were very young. Too bad I've been too busy to visit." he shook his head. "I didn't know Sango and Miroku very well, or the little kitsune. But I knew Kagome and Inuyasha pretty well. Actually, Inuyasha and I used to hate each other...but that's not important. You were saying something about the others? Why didn't you all come here?"
"Well, we figured that Naraku probably wants to go get even for what happened in his last life." Nigai explained. "So he's either going to attack here or in the village where Inuyasha and the others are."
"Yeah, so that's where they went." Natsu added.
"But you guys haven't noticed anything suspicious lately?" Nigai asked.
"I don't really know...I don't think Sanka's reported anything strange." Kouga looked back at his mate, obviously not liking having to leave her side for very long. "Mikan says that if it's fixed before the baby comes, she should be fine. If not..."
"Don't worry, Kouga sir." Natsu assured him, her voice sympathetic. "It'll get fixed.
"Thanks." he told her, his eyes sad as they left. "Whatever you need, ask Sanka to give it to you." It was time to end this, and they knew where Naraku had gone now. There was only one place he could be.
----------
"Yoru? Where are you? Yoru?" Keshiki wandered through the thinly wooded glen, finally reaching a meadow where she saw the boy kneeling in the grass. "Yoru! There you are! I was so worried..."
"Keshiki...I feel strange." Yoru smiled at her weakly as she reached his side, lowering herself to see if anything was wrong with him. "I was...getting these for you." he offered her a handful of wildflowers, causing Keshiki to blush deeply as she took the proffered bouquet.
"You didn't have to..." she told him softly, not pulling back when he leaned toward her. She felt his lips brush over her own gently, but then he made a choked sound, collapsing into her lap. "Yoru? What's happening? Yoru, are you okay?"
"Oh shit..." he smiled up at her as well as he could in his condition, reaching up to touch her dark hair as though it was very important that he accomplish such a thing. "Keshiki...I think...it's happening."
"Like before?" Keshiki's eyes watered, spilling down her cheeks. "With Mottomo?"
"Yeah...I think...look." Yoru showed her how his hand was becoming transparent, grunting slightly at the effort. "Man, this sucks." he told her, his face obviously unhappy.
"Does it hurt?" Keshiki wanted to know as she cradled his head carefully.
"No...doesn't hurt at all." he assured her. "It's like...all my pain...all of everything...fading away...like me."
"Yoru...I don't want you to leave!" she exclaimed, continuing to cry.
"Neither do I." he told her. "But at least...I got your promise...if we grew up..."
"I'd marry you." she told him fervently. "I would. And we could live anywhere you want. It doesn't matter...just don't leave."
"Keshiki...I love you." he told her, his form wavering before he disappeared completely.
Not so far away, Shippo's ears perked up as he heard a piercing scream, full of sadness and grief. And he knew what had happened. Somehow, he was sure.
*****
The End (Of Part 17, That Is)
Why did Yoru have to be erased? He was cool! Will Teresa ever stop killing characters off? Is anyone going to live to see the end of the fic? If Naraku's the only one that lives, how much hate mail will Teresa receive? Would she ever be that cruel? Are Yuki and Haruka going to be good, or are Fuyu and Tsuyo going to have to give them another talking to about the importance of killing Naraku over stopping every five minutes to make out? Are Natsu and Nigai going to be best friends based on their mutual hate of Naraku and obsession with his death? Will Natsu's group reach the village in time? Will Naraku be there, or will he mysteriously sneak off somewhere else to postpone the inevitable ass-whooping he's going to receive? Will this story ever end???
Until next time, always remember that if your mom took the truck and your best friend doesn't have a car, no sushi for you. Boo.